Phillipstown Community is "in the poorest 10 per cent" in the country according to "The Ministry of Health('s) atlas (which) uses information from the 2006 census to rank 1,792 areas across the country, using eight types of deprivation, including income, home ownership, family support, employment, qualifications and transport." Extract from The Press, Wednesday 2 July 2008.
The article continues to say that "the difference between rich and poor is absolutely still there. In New Zealand, there's a very high degree of inequality." | Phillipstown School believes that the key to the community is education and the principal and teachers are committed to enhancing the level of education amongst their pupils and the community as a whole despite the fact that the school has one of the lowest Decile ratings at 1C.
The school is exceeding the national norms for Maori achievement and ERO (the Education Review Office) couldn't believe how well the school was doing (according to the Principal, Tony Simpson).
Previously the school's reading level was above the chronological age of the pupils by 30% and now it is over 70% above. |
